Jan Michal Pieńkowski, 1936–2022, Author, Illustrator

Jan Michal Pieńkowski was born in Warsaw in 1936 to Jerzy, a farm manager, and Wanda (née Garlicka), a scientist, and was three years old in September 1939 when World War II began in Europe with the invasion of Poland.

“Author, Illustrator Jan Pieńkowski was born in Warsaw and was three years old in September 1939 when World War II began”

Leominster Museum

He was in an air-raid shelter during a Nazi firebomb attack when a Polish insurgent showed him paper cut-out techniques that he later used in over 150 picture books.

Leominster Museum

From 1944 the family moved through Bavaria, Austria and Italy before settling in the Barons Cross Camp, Leominster, in 1946, where Pieńkowski attended Lucton School.

At the age of 10 he could not speak any English, but a year later he passed his Eleven-Plus exam and attended the Cardinal Vaughan School in London and later read English Classics at King’s College, Cambridge.

After leaving university he founded the Gallery Five greeting cards company with his agent, Angela Holder, and he began illustrating children’s books in his spare time before that work took all his time.

Leominster Museum

Pieńkowski is probably best known for illustrating the Meg and Mog books written by Helen Nicoll and for his pop-up books including Haunted House, Robot, Dinner Time, Good Night and 17 others; Haunted House has sold more than a million copies in 13 languages to nearly 30 countries worldwide.

“Author, Illustrator Jan Pieńkowski was born in Warsaw and was three years old in September 1939 when World War II began”

Leominster Museum

In 1968 he began working with children’s author Joan Aiken and he won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal for their 1971 book, The Kingdom Under the Sea and other stories (Jonathan Cape), eleven “fairy tales from Eastern Europe and Russia” retold by Aiken, and several other awards followed.

In 1969 Pieńkowski designed a trophy for the Booker Prize; although the statuette was out of use for many years, after his death it was reinstated in his honour.

Pieńkowski had a lifelong interest in stage design and he was commissioned to provide designs for Théâtre de Complicité, Beauty and the Beast for the Royal Ballet, and Sleeping Beauty at Disneyland Paris.

He lived and worked in Barnes, London, with his partner David Walser and he died on 19 February 2022, at the age of 85.

Leominster Museum